Kentucky GOP files complaint over Alison Lundergan Grimes bus

The Kentucky Republican Party filed a complaint Friday with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes violated federal campaign laws over her financing and use of a bus owned by her father’s company.

The complaint alleges that the bus rental — from father Jerry Lundergan’s company, Signature Special Event Services — amounts to a prohibited corporate contribution. Lundergan’s catering business appears to have purchased the vehicle as the campaign got underway and later rented it at a discounted rate to his daughter’s campaign — in violation of federal law banning such corporate gifts, the complaint says.

Text Size

-

+

reset

“Even if Signature Special Events were to provide any transportation services to others who are not Alison Lundergan Grimes, it is exceedingly unlikely that SSES would provide transportation services to the extent that they provide those services to the Grimes Campaign and certainly not at the same rate,” state GOP chairman Steve Robertson wrote in the complaint. “Without constant access to this luxury touring motor coach, Alison Lundergan Grimes and her campaign would have to pay for the cost of other transportation and accommodations just as any other person would.”

Pushing back, the Kentucky Democratic Party said Friday it would file an ethics complaint of its own against Mitch McConnell amid reports that the Senate minority leader had breakfast in the Senate with an airline executive and later was rewarded with a $10,000 check to his political arm.

Republicans’ complaint against Grimes comes in the wake of a POLITICO report this week raising questions about the rental costs of the 45-foot-long bus, which she has used to tour across the state since last summer. The total amount the Grimes campaign paid for the bus — about $10,939 — amounted to a daily rental cost of about $456, including fuel and driver costs. Several bus companies have said that a similar size bus typically costs about $1,500-$2,000 per day, including fuel and driver. The difference between the fair market value of the rental and the amount the campaign is paying would be considered an illegal in-kind contribution from a corporation, legal experts say.

The Grimes campaign has scrambled to show that its costs were well within market value, though it has provided inconsistent explanations to the media on its payments. Based on quotes from several companies, the Grimes campaign now says it is paying $180 for the rental of the 2003 Prevost — $200 for the driver with additional fuel costs.

“Our compliance experts have done their due diligence and stand by the facts presented on this matter,” said Charly Norton, spokeswoman for the Grimes campaign. “This is yet another political stunt from the McConnell campaign and his allies to distract Kentuckians away from Mitch McConnell skipping work, selling access to the Senate Dining Room and profiting off of coal miners losing their jobs.”

The Kentucky Democratic Party said Friday it would file its own complaint against McConnell for treating Rick Anderson, the CEO of Delta Airlines, to breakfast in the Senate Dining Room. That breakfast was soon followed by a $10,000 donation from Anderson and his wife, Susan, to the GOP leader’s political operation.

Democrats said they would ask the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate whether McConnell violated Senate rules by soliciting donations in the Capitol building. The donation was reported by National Journal earlier this week.

“It’s not a coincidence that just days after treating a corporate bigwig to a meal in the U.S. Senate dining room, Mitch McConnell was repaid with $10,000 to fund his rusted Washington campaign,” said Dan Logsdon, chairman of the state Democratic Party. “These reports are serious, erode the public trust, and if true, his actions could be illegal.”

Allison Moore, a spokeswoman for the McConnell campaign, said it was “beyond insulting to Kentuckians for the Grimes camp to try to divert attention away from an extremely serious campaign finance violation with a frivolous complaint?.”

Neither the Senate Select Committee on Ethics or the FEC are likely to act on the matter before the elections — and it’s not at all clear what either would do. It’s routine for senators to dine with donors, and it’s not a violation of Senate rules unless a senator is soliciting campaign contributions in a federal building.

Similarly, the FEC could try to impose a fine on the Grimes campaign if it believes it accepted a prohibited contribution, but it could ultimately decide to take a pass. In a separate case stemming from the 2010 elections, the FEC dismissed a complaint that Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden received an excessive contribution from an individual donor by paying $95 daily to rent a recreational vehicle she used to campaign across the state.

The Grimes campaign has released several quotes from companies to show their rates are completely legit, including from Tennessee-based Staley Coach & Sales, which said it would rent such a vehicle for $150-$175 daily. But that rate does not include fuel and driver costs — nor does the company rent buses; it only sells them. Another company the campaign used to base its rates on, Star Coaches of Atlanta, told The Associated Press this week that it was too good of a deal for Grimes to keep the bus wrapped with her campaign logo for an entire year and use it whenever she wants.

“If they’re paying 11 grand to have that bus wrapped for 266 days and use it however many days they want to use it? That’s a sweetheart deal,” Don Neuen, vice president of operations for Star Coaches, told the AP.